d--if I may use the expression. I am merely
loud with her (and I beg you will honor me by being loud, too) as a
necessary stimulant to her ideas. Shout at her--and her mind comes up
to time. Speak to her--and she drifts miles away from you directly. Mrs.
Wragge!"

Mrs. Wragge instantly acknowledged the stimulant. "Tea, captain?" she
inquired, for the second time.

"Put your cap straight!" shouted her husband. "I beg ten thousand
pardons," he resumed, again addressing himself to Magdalen. "The sad
truth is, I am a martyr to my own sense of order. All untidiness, all
want of system and regularity, cause me the acutest irritation. My
attention is distracted, my composure is upset; I can't rest till things
are set straight again. Externally speaking, Mrs. Wragge is, to my
infinite regret, the crookedest woman I ever met with. More to the
right!" shouted the captain, as Mrs. Wragge, like a well-trained
child, presented herself with her revised head-dress for her husband's
inspection.

Mrs. Wragge immediately pulled the cap to the left. Magdalen rose, and
set it right for her. The moon-face of the giantess brightened for the
first time. She looked admiringly at Magdalen's cloak and bonnet. "Do
you like dress, miss?" she asked, suddenly, in a confidential whisper.
"I do."

"Show Miss Vanstone her room," said the captain, looking as if the whole
house belonged to him. "The spare-room, the landlady's spare-room, on
the third floor front. Offer Miss Vanstone all articles connected with
the toilet of which she may stand in need. She has no luggage with her.
Supply the deficiency, and then come back and make tea."

Mrs. Wragge acknowledged the receipt of these lofty directions by a
look of placid bewilderment, and led the way out of the room; Magdalen
following her, with a candle presented by the attentive captain. As
soon as they were alone on the landing outside, Mrs. Wragge raised the
tattered old book which she had been reading when Magdalen was first
presented to her, and which she had never let out of her hand since, and
slowly tapped herself on the forehead with it. "Oh, my poor head!" said
the tall lady, in meek soliloquy; "it's Buzzing again worse than ever!"

"Buzzing?" repeated Magdalen, in the utmost astonishment.

Mrs. Wragge ascended the stairs, without offering any explanation,
stopped at one of the rooms on the second floor, and led the way in.

"This is not the third floor," said Magdalen. "This is not my